'To take possession' definitions:

Definition of 'To take possession'

From: GCIDE

Possession \Pos*ses"sion\, n. [F. possession, L. possessio.]
1. The act or state of possessing, or holding as one's own. [1913 Webster]
2. (Law) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful. [1913 Webster]
Note: Possession may be either actual or constructive; actual, when a party has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to such occupancy. [1913 Webster]
3. The thing possessed; that which any one occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign possessions. [1913 Webster]
When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. --Matt. xix. 22. [1913 Webster]
Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. --Acts v. 1. [1913 Webster]
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. --Ob. 17. [1913 Webster]
4. The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. [1913 Webster]
How long hath this possession held the man? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy.
To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; as, to put one in possession of facts or information. (b) (Law) To place one in charge of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry.
To take possession, to enter upon, or to bring within one's power or occupancy.
Writ of possession (Law), a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. [1913 Webster]